Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Aug 24: Crucial meeting of the State Election Committee of Congress is being convened tomorrow at Srinagar for a thorough discussion and finalization of the candidate panels for different constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir where the Assembly elections are slated to be held in the next two-three months.
All members of the Election Committee, including PCC president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz and former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad have reached Srinagar where the decisive meeting is going to be held on Monday at Hotel Broadway at 12 noon, sources in Congress circles informed the Excelsior.
Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Minister for PHE Irrigation and Flood Control Sham Lal Sharma, CLP Leader Mohd Sharief Niaz, Minister for Urban Development Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Haj and Aquaf Peerzada Mohd Sayeed, MLC Ravinder Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Muzaffar Parrey and heads of the Congress frontal organizations, Shahnawaz Choudhary (Youth Congress), Indu Pawar (Mahila Congress) and Neeraj Kundan (NSUI), are other members of the Election Committee.
According to the party sources, the Election Committee members during their scheduled meeting on Monday, will take up all the Assembly constituencies one by one and hold a through discussion on the aspirant candidates for forthcoming Assembly elections following which panels of short listed contenders are likely to be finalized.
Winning ability of the aspirants and their commitment to the party ought to be the criteria for short listing the candidates for panels, which would be forwarded to the high level Central Screening Committee, headed by national general secretary Ajay Makan, sources added.
All the sitting Congress MLAs, except one, are likely to be recommended for the party mandate once again in State Assembly polls 2014 while as a formal decision on the same may be taken tomorrow in the Election Committee meeting, sources further informed.
In the remaining constituencies, sources added, the Election Committee is likely to restrict the choice on two aspirants and maximum three on a few seats after evolving a consensus.
The list of panels for different Assembly constituencies will be forwarded to the Central Screening Committee and thereafter to the Central Parliamentary Board, headed by AICC president Sonia Gandhi, for final selection of the Congress candidates.
Pertinent to mention that the Congress has already announced to contest all the Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir without forging a pre-poll truck with any political outfit despite being an alliance partner in the National Conference-led Government for the last almost six years.
Almost all the aspirants for Congress mandate in Assembly polls have already submitted their bio-data to the party.
Even as the People’s Democratic Party is believed to be secretly helping Congress by fielding weak candidates in a few constituencies where PDP has almost negligible presence, sources said that a reciprocal approach is unlikely to be adopted by the ruling alliance, sources maintained.
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